Saturday, July 6, 2013

So, after all the craziness of the men's draw over the past two weeks, we still wind up with No. 1 vs. No. 2 in the final. I was hoping for a totally insane and improbable Delpo vs. Jerzy Final, but it's Djokovic vs. Murray, the winner will determine who's been carrying the voodoo dolls in his bag all along. Novak won in 2011. Murray made the final last year and won the Olympics here as well. They both seem to be in great health and should have plenty left in the tank for the final. So it's up for grabs at this point. Maybe I give Novak a slight edge. But to say that the crowd will be against him is the understatement of the century.

But before we get to the Final, let's reflect on the EPIC semifinal between Juan Martin Del Potro and Novak Djokovic. With a score of 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-7 (6), 6-3,they played the longest Wimbledon's men's semifinal
in history, where both men were firing on all cylinders in what will be a truly memorable match for years to come.

For 4 hours, 43-minutes these two just threw everything they had at each other. Amazing shot after amazing shot, neither man would give up as the other got close to the finish line. The most truly amazing example of this was the 4th set tie break. Please do yourself a favor and watch the 12 minute clip embedded below.

If the video is eventually removed for copyright purposes, let me tell you that the most amazing few minutes came when Delpo was down two match points to Djokovic in the tie break with Djokovic serving at 6-4. At that point, Delpo just unleashes a string of forehands in a 24 stroke rally that are completely insane. Each one just seems to shout, "FUCK YOU!" as Delpo refuses to concede the match and Novak keeps returning them until finally a defensive lob sails long. 6-5. Having saved one match point on Novak's serve, he then had to save one on his one serve. Thanks to another truly wicked forehand, he does. 6-6. On his next serve, he smacks a backhand winner down the line. 7-6. Then it's back to Novak, and on a second serve opportunity, Delpo just crushes a
cross-court backhand to win the set. Four straight unbelievable points to snatch victory away from Novak. Well, at least temporarily. But usually it's Novak who pulls off that kinda come from behind insanity. It was really sweet to see someone do it to him!

Both men had chances in the 5th set. Delpo had break point opportunities but couldn't convert. Novak could. So he took the 5th set and the match 6-3. But it was such a close match through out and such an exceptional level of play that Novak and Delpo decided to gay marry each other when they met at the net post-match. There are no losers here. Only winners.

Who even had the energy and concentration to focus on the Murray-Jerzy match that followed? It was also well fought and well played, but I think in the end Jerzy just didn't have the experience needed to handle the occasion and Murray did coming back from behind to win 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. I hope we see more great play from Jerzy in the future. And I'm really excited to see what Delpo can do at the US Open.

Now Nole and Muzz have a day of rest. The moment of truth is almost at hand. Wimbledon is finally almost truly Wimbledone.